THE PEARL HARBOR ATTACK AND THE USS ARIZONA
Witnesses to infamy: The survivors of the attack on the battleship USS Arizona | 4:51

These men experienced the sinking of the battleship USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor and survived. "Witnesses to infamy: The survivors of the attack on the battleship USS Arizona,” an azcentral special documentary by Pat Shannahan.
Copyright The Arizona Republic/azcentral.com

THE PEARL HARBOR ATTACK AND THE USS ARIZONA
The Life and Legacy of the USS Arizona | 1:49

The Life and Legacy of the USS Arizona exhibit, commemorating the famous ship sunk at Pearl Harbor, will go on display at the University of Arizona Library Special Collections Aug. 29-Dec. 23, 2016. Tom Tingle/azcentral.com

Raymond Haerry, who was thrown from the deck of the USS Arizona in the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, returned to his old battleship Saturday, his remains interred in the sunken wreckage, where more than a thousand of his former crew mates already rest.

Haerry, who was a 20-year-old coxswain on the day of the attack, died Sept. 27 in West Warwick, R.I. He was 94.

Divers from the U.S. Navy and the National Park Service carried an urn with Haerry's remains from the deck of the USS Arizona Memorial to the ship's broken hull in the water beneath the memorial. There, the urn was placed in the barbette of gun turret four.

The interment is an honor accorded only to former crewmen of the Arizona. Haerry is the 42nd survivor whose remains have been returned to the ship. In all, 335 sailors and Marines survived the assault; 1,177 crew members perished.

Haerry's granddaughter, Jessica Marino, represented the family at the ceremony, presided over by Rear Admiral John Fuller, commander of the Navy's Hawaii region. Haerry had never visited the site since the attack, but told his family he wished to be interred in the ship when he died.

"That brotherhood doesn't go away and as he got closer to the end of life, it resonated with him," Marino told the Associated Press. "He didn't want to see the site or relive that disaster, but he wanted to relive that camaraderie."

'He was blown into the water'

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Divers hold aloft an urn with the remains of Raymond Haerry, who was a crewman on the USS Arizona when it was attacked at Pearl Harbor. The divers were taking the remains beneath the Arizona memorial to inter them in the wreckage of the battleship.
Elaine Simon/Pacific Historic Parks

Divers from the US Navy and the National Park Service take an urn with the remains of Raymond Haerry, who was a crewman on the USS Arizona when it was attacked at Pearl Harbor. Haerry died in September 2016.
Elaine Simon/Pacific Historic Parks

Divers prepare to submerge into the wreckage of the battleship USS Arizona, where they were taking the remains of Raymond Haerry, a sailor on the ship who survived the attack in 1941 and died in September 2016.
Elaine Simon/Pacific Historic Parks

The wreckage of the USS Arizona lies beneath a white memorial in Pearl Harbor. Raymond Haerry, a Navy sailor who was aboard the Arizona when it was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, was interred in the battleship's sunken wreckage April 15, 2017.
Elaine Simon/Pacific Historic Parks

Jessica Marino drops flowers in the well of the USS Arizona Memorial in honor of her grandfather, Chief Petty Officer Raymond Haerry, who died in September 2016. He was a crewman on the Arizona when it was attacked in 1941 and his remains were interred in the ship's wreckage beneath the memorial.
Elaine Simon/Pacific Historic Parks

Daniel Martinez, chief historian for the National Park Service at Pearl Harbor, speaks on the deck of the USS Arizona Memorial during an interment ceremony for Raymond Haerry, a former Arizona crewman who died in September 2016.
Elaine Simon/Pacific Historic Parks

An engraved marker in the shrine room of the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor lists the names of sailors and Marines whose remains are interred beneath the memorial in the wreckage of the USS Arizona. The crew members of the Arizona are the only sailors given the honor.
Elaine Simon/Pacific Historic Parks

Family members of Chief Petty Officer Raymond Haerry pay tribute in the shrine room of the USS Arizona Memorial. Here, an engraved marker lists the names of the Arizona crewmen whose remains are interred in the wreckage beneath the memorial in Pearl Harbor.
Elaine Simon/Pacific Historic Parks

A U.S. Navy representative presents a flag to Jessica Marino, granddaughter of Raymond Haerry, who served aboard the USS Arizona. Haerry was interred in the battleship's wreckage. The ceremony was held on the deck of the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.
Elaine Simon/Pacific Historic Parks

Members of Raymond Haerry's family meet with representatives of the National Park Service and the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor, where Haerry's remain's were interred in the USS Arizona Memorial.
Elaine Simon/Pacific Historic Parks

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Haerry was barely 18 when he enlisted in the Navy, choosing the service instead of college. He boarded the Arizona in September 1940 as the battleship's crew prepared for what seemed certain war.

On board the Arizona, he worked on the deck crew, cleaning and painting, operating the boats that ferried crew members to shore. On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, he had taken a load of crew members to shore and was eating breakfast on the ship when the Japanese attack started.

“He said they could hear the bombs, hear the planes immediately,” Raymond Haerry Jr. said in a 2014 interview.

Haerry could see enemy planes strafing the deck. He made it to his battle station on the anti-aircraft gun battery, but within minutes, the largest of the bombs rocked the Arizona, tearing it in half.

“He said he felt the entire ship lift up eight or 10 feet out of the water,” Raymond Jr. said. “When it came down, he was knocked into the water, overboard. He was blown into the water.”

He half-walked, half-swam to nearby Ford Island, where he found a machine gun and began firing at planes until the attack subsided.

After World War II, Haerry served in Korea and then began teaching officer candidates in Newport, R.I., before retiring from the Navy in 1964 as a Master Chief Petty Officer.

In December 2011, on the 70th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, Haerry received the Rhode Island Cross, the highest civilian honor the state bestows.

'It was really sad, but also really sweet'

Jessica Marino drops flowers in the well of the USS Arizona Memorial in honor of her grandfather, Chief Petty Officer Raymond Haerry, who died in September 2016. He was a crewman on the Arizona when it was attacked in 1941 and his remains were interred in the ship's wreckage beneath the memorial.(Photo: Elaine Simon/Pacific Historic Parks)

The interment ceremony took place on the deck of the Arizona Memorial, which sits anchored atop the battleship's wreckage. Fuller, the Navy admiral, talked about Haerry's courage and his belief in the greater cause.

"I can't help but think about him being reunited into these simple, hallowed spaces," Fuller said. "The calm that comes from being again with your crew, and the lessons we can learn from all he taught us."

After the memorial service, divers took the urn from the memorial and carried it aloft in the water until they reached the area over the gun turret. They submerged and placed the container with the others.

"That was the point at which I kind of lost it," Marino said. "It was really sad, but also really sweet to see. It was amazing."

From the deck of the memorial, Marino dropped flowers into a well above the ship.

Raymond Jr. was unable to attend the ceremony, but he had worked for years to help his father assemble the story of his experience on the Arizona and help retell the story. Haerry was reticent for a long time to talk about the attack, but kept mementos of his time on the ship, including a ball cap that most of the survivors wore.

“To go through that at 19 years of age to me is incomprehensible,” his son said. “He’s a hero.”